Accident and emergency departments are nearing crisis point, but evidence suggests that some of the pressure comes from patients who want to avoid having to wait for a GP appointment. Could pharmacists reduce the burden by helping to treat A&E patients suffering relatively minor conditions?
This is the question that Health Education England (HEE) hopes to answer through a national project. The aim, says Matt Aiello, special projects manager, transformation, at Health Education West Midlands, is to find out whether pharmacists can be a “relevant and viable part” of the A&E team and, if so, what kind of training they would need. A pilot in the West Midlands, looking at 782 patients attending A&E in three acute trusts between April 2013 and August 2014, was encouraging.
It found that 39.8% of patients could have been dealt with by a pharmacist with advanced clinical practice training skills, while an independent prescribing pharmacist could have dealt with another 5.1%.
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Filed under: A&E, GP's, GP's, Hospitals, pharmacists
